SpIFF 2009 was a good one

The 11th Spokane International Film Festival is over, and it was a good one. I didn’t see all of the movies (including the highly regarded “Revanche,” which I hope to see over the next couple of days), and this was a change from festivals past.

But I liked most of what I saw, including:

“Let the Right One In”: Interesting Swedish take on the vampire film, sort of a pre-teen love story with fangs.

“The Fix”: A filmmaker and his girlfriend/partner go on a daylong sojourn around Los Angeles with the filmmaker’s manipulatively charismatic brother.

“Il Divo”: Italian politics will never seem the same after seeing this high-energy, stylistic look at the career of long-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti.

“Fighting Politics”: Mixed-martial artist Matt Lindland is an unforgettable character, one whose career proves that sometimes being the best still isn’t good enough.

“The Rest Is Silence”: Following in the serio-comic style of the Czech film “I Served the King of England,” this Romanian film is an epic look at that country’s original filmmakers.

“Tricks”: A film of subtlety, this Polish offering centers on a brother and sister whose lives revolve around their attempts to guide their uncontrollable destinies.

“The Art of Getting Over It”: This made-in-Spokane short is a poignant view of how one man resolves the betrayals that have marked his life.

“The Edge of Heaven”: An ensemble cast powers this German-Turkish production about family, fate and the dual faces of fortune/misfortune.

“The Secret”: An unusual take on the standard Holocaust film, this French film reveals how a man’s life has been marked by his parents’ mysterious past.